I accepted the offer, but I still felt bothered that I would help the Empire solve their mess. Helping kill innocent people didn’t sit well with me, but the Aquarian kingdom was also killing people, even if they had reasons to attack the Empire. In the end, those who truly lose are the ones who didn’t start the fight and aren’t corrupted.
‘I am here to help, but I am not going to take part in a massacre… Weakening both sides isn’t something that I can do by myself, but there are other things I can do.’
I was planning to test how well I could fight against people, but after thinking for a bit, I would only make enemies if I tried that. It was better to just fight to defend myself until the last moment.
Right now, I was inside Cassius’ carriage because, in times like this, I couldn’t head to a war zone without being stopped for looking like someone suspicious. I had to stay close to someone who could vouch for me. We headed to his home to get my rewards beforehand.
“It looks like you prepared all this beforehand in case you didn’t manage to convince me after I stopped exploring the dungeon.”
“Don’t say something like that. You make me sound like I am a pretty calculating man.”
If he wasn’t a calculating man, then I was a full vampire who could glow in the light of the sun. For a while when I came to this world, I feared that this could happen, but I got lucky at least that much.
In any case, aside from the soldiers who worked in the city, the place looked pretty much the same as before. If push came to a shove, nobles could always hire adventurers, but that wasn’t common since it would make them look weak and adventurers only followed their own orders or the requirements of a job that they could or not accept. Since both parts didn’t see each other eye to eye, that rarely happened and even often worked.
I wanted to ask what kind of noble houses would be involved in this war… but that would make me look too curious. I was curious if Rayner snatched a mermaid’s wife in the last war. Knowing him, he couldn’t endure it for that long. Maybe I already have a little brother or sister who is also half-human and half-triton or mermaid.
Soon enough, the carriage stopped in front of a large house that had some tall walls as well. It seemed brand new and I could see some guards patrolling around as well. A little ahead, I found a mansion that seemed similar to Rayner’s. It was probably the Moredall’s house. There was a large group of armored guards in front of it and waiting for orders.
“Wait here for a bit. I will bring them here. Afterward, we will head south and talk about the plans.”
“You are heading too?”
“I didn’t mention it? Yes, I am going.”
I wanted to ask what for. He was a businessman, after all. He can’t fight… unless a merchant class has some skill called throwing coins. In some games, that causes a lot of damage, but only madmen would use currency as disposable projectiles.
‘I guess he has his own force and is planning to use them to defend his businesses. In any case, this kind of situation is really troublesome… I was planning to learn more about the lands beyond the Great Sea… but if the empire loses all of its ports, that won’t be possible anymore.”
The Aquarian Kingdom will make sure to destroy all the ships and ports that the humans will build in the future… I couldn’t see any good way for this war to end. All sides would lose, and the best option would be to hand over the culprits, but it seemed that the emperor didn’t see that as an option. He was probably involved in this as well.
I tried to do some research about the imperial family, but information about them was extremely lacking. I heard that they confiscated books that mentioned them and their history, so doing that should be against the law… I knew the kind of person who would want to control that kind of information, the type that I wanted to stay clear of.
After half an hour, Cassius showed up with some servants. They were carrying a bunch of boxes. The carriage was big, but it looked like he wasn’t going to leave a lot of space. I really wanted to use my bike now… After they loaded the carriage, he passed to me one of them.
When I opened the box, I found a really new skill book and a dagger glowing with a light blue glow. They looked really valuable, so I hesitated to touch them.
Arrow Creation Tome (Rare)
Description: Grants the ability to enchant quivers, allowing them to summon arrows of pure mana directly into the quiver, instantly replenishing ammunition.
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Mana-Siphoning Dagger (Epic)
Enchantment Slots: Mana Drain (Novice) – Restores your mana when hitting a target, you can recover mana equal to ten percent of the damage caused. Critical strikes increase mana gain to 25%.
Attack: 15
Durability: 20/20
I frowned a bit… the knife was supposed to have three slots for enchantments, but only had a single one. Was that because of the quality of the enchantment that was basic, or was it because this type of enchantment was that powerful? I had to study that.
The dagger also was supposed to have bonus effects, but not even that. Perhaps it was because the materials didn’t come from monsters or something similar.
“The trip will last for a week, so I hope that you can endure stay inside the carriage.”
“I thought that you would have more guards.”
“I already sent the majority that I had…”
Aside from the guard driving the carriage, there were six more ahead to clear the path and defend it if necessary. They didn’t seem like proper knights, but they didn’t look like adventurers either. I checked their parameters and didn’t find them that impressive. They were weaker than Vincent.
Maybe they weren’t the best warriors, but would Cassius not keep his best guards to defend him? In any case, I had better things to do than to worry about that, such as reading the skill book and studying the knife.
It has been a while since I used a skill book, but the quality of this one was pretty good, so the knowledge was easily absorbed by my brain. Still, the skill book was pretty thick, so it took a full day for me to read it.
The skill Enchanting Touch leveled up. You received 2100 experience points.
The book disappeared from my hands as I obtained all the knowledge… actually, it didn’t disappear. Only the words vanished from the pages. This kind of enchantment was simple. It could create arrows based on their quality and duration. The most simple arrows would come from enchantments at the Novice rank. They would only cost five points of mana to be created, but they could only last for five minutes.
I could also create bolts like this too. The only important thing was the intention when using this effect. Still, the more it is used, the more the quiver would lose durability. The good quivers that could last a lot longer were made with monster leather. The rarer, the better.
“Are you done reading? You must have had a good education to read such a skill book so fast.”
“Not really… anyway, aren’t those horses going to die thanks to exhaustion?”
“No.”
That wasn’t much of an answer for the usual chatterbox that Cassius was… there was something off about this. He looked away as if he wanted to avoid me studying his expression. I couldn’t believe it… could even animals get classes in this world? Perhaps they had a system of their own, like monsters, or perhaps they drank some special potions. I had heard of all kinds of potions, after all. Potions for sleeping, potions to slow down aging, potions to even increase parameters…
If I were a chemist in my previous life, I would have become an alchemist in this world and instead of creating a rail gun, I would try to create a super soldier serum or something. In any case, I was a bit tired, so I decided to take a nap. We had food and water inside the carriage, but it was still pretty tiresome to stay in a closed, confined space for so long.
When I woke up, it was already night, but the horses were still moving. I guessed that aside from a high stamina regeneration, they also had a high health regeneration to avoid getting injured from overwork.
‘I guess this kind of information is something people gain in the knight’s academy or the Mage's academy. I don’t need a horse, but I guess it would be fun to have a strong pet to help. Where I can find the egg of a pegasus or something?’
Monster eggs were extremely hard to find… few species actually reproduce inside dungeons. They never have time to do that, and they almost never spawn for no good reason. Well, it probably would be a lot of work to look after one and I would stand out, so it was better not to think of something like that.
In any case, I couldn’t get new information from Cassius now since he was sleeping, so I decided to use Essence Extraction on the dagger. Soon enough, I was attacked by a powerful wave of headache, I never felt like that before… I had thought that I had gotten used to that kind of process, but it seemed that I was getting way too much information from a single effect. It made sense since was an extremely rare one.
For one hour, I regretted that choice… I wasn’t skilled enough to normally have that kind of effect, but my focus made me endure everything until the whole process was over. When that happened, I passed out.
The skill Essence Extraction leveled up. You received 600 experience points.
The skill Essence Extraction leveled up. You received 700 experience points.
The skill Essence Extraction leveled up. You received 800 experience points.
The skill Essence Extraction leveled up. You received 900 experience points.
I had no idea how long I had slept, but I was really hungry when I woke up. I felt like I had been run over by a truck a bunch of times too.
“Are you finally awake?”
I moved my head a bit and then I felt the lingering effects of that headache and then I recalled what had happened. It felt like a hangover without the smell and taste of vomit in my mouth.
“You stayed out cold for two days… It seemed that you tried to mess up with something beyond your current skill level, but since you are alive, things are fine now.”
I looked through the window of the carriage… it was morning, so this should be the morning of the fourth or fifth day of the trip. The scenario had changed a bit and the temperature increased. Now, I could see a lot of trees that looked like palm trees around. The vegetation wasn’t that high, and the path was clear, so it looked like soon, I would see the sea and war.